Ir­an’s top lead­er said Tehran would need to puri­fy urani­um nearly 20 times faster, as out­siders raced to cap its abil­ity to fuel nuc­le­ar bombs, Re­u­ters re­ports.

Ayatol­lah Ali Khame­nei on Tues­day said six oth­er ne­go­ti­at­ing coun­tries want to lim­it Ir­an’s urani­um-en­rich­ment ca­pa­city to “10,000 sep­ar­at­ive work units, which is equi­val­ent to 10,000 cent­ri­fuges of the older type that we already have.” Tehran in­sists it only wants to re­fine urani­um to low levels for use in ci­vil­ian re­act­ors, but oth­er coun­tries sus­pect it wants an op­tion to pro­duce high­er-pur­ity ma­ter­i­al for weapons.

“Our of­fi­cials say we need 190,000 cent­ri­fuges,” Khame­nei said. “Per­haps this is not a need this year or in two years or five years, but this is the coun­try’s ab­so­lute need.”

Tehran is dis­cuss­ing the pos­sib­il­ity of lim­it­ing some of its nuc­le­ar activ­it­ies for a num­ber of years in ex­change for sanc­tions re­lief from China, France, Ger­many, Rus­sia, the United King­dom and the United States. The sides are push­ing to com­plete a deal by Ju­ly 20, when an in­ter­im atom­ic deal is sched­uled to ex­pire.

Former U.S. State De­part­ment of­fi­cial Mark Fitzpatrick said Khame­nei’s latest com­ment “con­firms” that Ir­an’s ne­go­ti­at­ors “are not au­thor­ized to ac­cept cut­backs to the en­rich­ment pro­gram.” The coun­try has de­ployed over 19,000 urani­um-en­rich­ment cent­ri­fuges to date, and is cur­rently pro­du­cing ci­vil­ian nuc­le­ar fuel in about 10,000 of the ma­chines.

“They make it seem like Is­rael wants to at­tack, but Amer­ica is stop­ping it: the good cop, bad cop trick,” he said. “But I say out loud: the reas­on they are not at­tack­ing is be­cause it is too costly. The en­emy has no oth­er op­tion at its dis­pos­al but make threats and im­pose sanc­tions.”

President Obama has called for a "full review" of the hacking that took place during the 2016 election cycle, according to Obama counterterrorism and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco. Intelligence officials say it is highly likely that Russia was behind the hacking. The results are not necessarily going to be made public, but will be shared with members of Congress.

Source:

AT ISSUE: BENEFITS FOR COAL MINERS

Manchin, Brown Holding Up Spending Bill

2 hours ago

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are threatening to block the spending bill—and prevent the Senate from leaving town—"because it would not extend benefits for retired coal miners for a year or pay for their pension plans. The current version of the bill would extend health benefits for four months. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday afternoon moved to end debate on the continuing resolution to fund the government through April 28. But unless Senate Democrats relent, that vote cannot be held until Saturday at 1 a.m. at the earliest, one hour after the current funding measure expires."

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PARLIAMENT VOTED 234-56

South Korean President Impeached

3 hours ago

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The South Korean parliament voted on Friday morning to impeach President Park Geun-hye over charges of corruption, claiming she allowed undue influence to a close confidante of hers. Ms. Park is now suspended as president for 180 days. South Korea's Constitutional Court will hear the case and decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

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CLOSED FOR INAUGURAL ACTIVITIES

NPS: Women’s March Can’t Use Lincoln Memorial

3 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Participants in the women's march on Washington the day after inauguration won't have access to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has "filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters."